Last week I didn't hit my 20-mile mark for running, but I did run 5 miles, 3 miles, and 5 miles, for a total of 13. Saturday morning was my second 5-mile run. I was plodding along, enjoying the sunrise as I approached the 4-mile mark, when a couple hailed me as I passed their house. They were setting up for a yard sale, and the husband asked if I wanted to buy anything. I'm sure he was kidding, as it was pretty obvious that I didn't have any means of transporting items other than the little water bottles on my Fuel Belt. However, the first thing I saw when I looked over was a sectional sofa with a sign for $175!!
Now, you have to understand that Ted and I are not furniture shoppers. I tried to be, back before we had kids and I was embarrassed about an incredibly ugly, hairy couch that we had acquired for free soon after we were married. I was thrilled when one of my paychecks about 8 1/2 years ago was able to help purchase our nice green and white couch that we still enjoy today. But I have to admit I didn't really enjoy the shopping process. Picking out furniture and decorating a house just isn't part of the gifting that I received. The rest of our furniture--I mean, the stuff that you sit on, not counting the dining set--consists of an old but rather comfortable rocking chair that we bought for twenty bucks at a church rummage sale either right before or right after getting married, an old but pretty oak rocking chair that belonged to my mom's parents, and a futon that we purchased in 2001 so we could have a place to sleep while waiting for TMO to deliver our household goods to our new home in Dayton.
Why we chose a white futon mattress is beyond me. At the time we did have Charis, a 9-month-old, and I was expecting Tobin, so obviously we were getting into our child-raising years. We did pay a bit extra for the Scotchguarding, I believe, but still...white?! What were we thinking?! The mattress is now a dull gray everywhere except for the nice red kool-aid stain that some kid planted on it when there were about 80 children crawling all over our house one afternoon, so I can't pinpoint the culprit. The backside has some attractive pen scribbles across the middle in plain sight, so there is no hope of flipping the mattress over to hide the dirt.
So, as you can imagine, this eyesore hasn't exactly held a place of high esteem in my heart, although its place in the family room ensured that it was at least away from the "nice" sitting area. Additionally, it gets quite crowded when we pile on it for bedtime stories or for movie night.
Therefore, a sectional sofa was something I had been eyeing for awhile, but the four-digit price tags held me back, not to mention the dreaded thought of actually going to a store and trying to decide which color we liked, which was most comfortable, which was the best value for the money, etc.
So when I saw that I could get a sectional sofa for about 1/6th of its original cost (the owners paid $1200 for it brand new), I was sold! I realize now that my mother's shopping gene isn't entirely formulated in my system, because not only did I neglect to even SIT on the sofa, I didn't even give it the sniff test. (Thank God the owners weren't smokers, though!!) Due to my negligence, it wasn't until the sections were unloaded and sitting in our driveway (thanks to the helping hand of a neighbor with a truck) that I learned I would need to put in some time vacuuming the dog hair off.
Two and a half hours of vacuuming later, the couch looks great, and I am pleased to say it is in good condition and is quite comfortable for sitting and lounging(though not for sleeping, as I found out last night). What a blessing to have more seats for our growing family!
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